CCG Senior School Web 2.0 Tools and Digital Education Workshops


Listed below are details and information for two workshops on using Web 2.0 tools in education, following on from the recent staff meeting presentation. You're warmly invited to attend both, which occur during school hours in the week after students have finished up at school.


  • Put the dates and times below in your diary if you're interested.
  • Please email me (b.vanderkley@ccg.vic.edu.au) with your expression of interest for either or both workshops just so I have an idea of numbers.



Workshop 1: Edmodo as a Class Portal and Teacher PD Tool

  • This workshop will be on Monday 6th December, 09.00-10.30am in Room 5.
  • Bring your laptop or use a desktop in the room for a hands-on exploration.

Workshop Information:


Edmodo is “social learning for schools”. It provides a private, teacher-controlled online learning environment for teachers and their classes with a Facebook-like feel. It’s very popular and engaging with students of all ages, avoids most of the privacy and cyber-safety concerns relating to online communication and is dead simple for teachers and students alike to use. Not only is it useful for teachers and their classes, but it has much to offer as a teacher networking and PD tool as well.

You might like to read more about Edmodo from a teacher’s perspective at: http://mrssmoke.onsugar.com/social-networking-students-8786715

I’ve been using Edmodo in some of my classes this semester and I’ll be sharing those experiences. The reason I’ve chosen Edmodo for this first workshop is its simplicity and accessibility for teachers at all levels of tech-confidence, coupled with the great many ways it can benefit students and enhance the work we do all in the classroom.

This hands-on workshop will include:

  • Considerations for classroom and curriculum planning when working with Web 2.0 tools
  • What is Edmodo and what can it offer my students and I?
  • How can it enhance and extend the learning carried out in the classroom?
  • What does it offer as a teacher PD tool?
  • Consideration of cyber privacy, safety and etiquette.
  • A hands-on Edmodo tour and exploration.
  • Suggestions and resources for getting started with students.



Workshop 2: Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers' Personal and Professional Learning and Collaboration

  • This workshop will be on Wed 8th December, 09.00-10.30am in Room 5.

Pre-Workshop Preparation

  • You will need to bring your own laptop with Google Chrome installed on it, to fully benefit from the hands-on activities in this workshop.
    This is needed because Feedly (see below) is not supported by Internet Explorer. There are extra benefits too - Google Chrome is faster than Internet Explorer for your usual web browsing.


    It is recommended that you pre-install Google Chrome prior to the workshop so you can focus on the actual workshop activities during the session.
    Installing Chrome only takes a few minutes and it's very simple. Follow this link to get started with the installation.



    Alternatively, if you want some help with this then let me know. I can help or even do it for you in a few minutes while you wait.
    Just visit me with your laptop.



    If you decide that want to uninstall Google Chrome after the workshop I'll be happy to help you with that too.

Workshop Information:

Participants in this workshop will be introduced to, and have hands-on exploration of, two great Web 2.0 tools that can aid teachers' personal and professional learning.


Diigo is a very simple online bookmarking tool. Teachers can use it to bookmark any web page or site they visit for later reference, just like a web browser's in-built bookmarks. However Diigo also enables users to share their bookmarks, publicly or with a private group. In addition, teachers can highlight sections of web pages or add sticky notes to them and these get shared too. Diigo has enormous value for resource sharing and collaboration amongst teachers, or between teachers and their students, and it's quick and easy to use.

Feedly "organises your favourite sites into a fun, magazine-like start page". Feedly is basically a graphical or visual overlay for the RSS and news reader Google Reader, but you don't really need to know that. What you should know is that it's a great way to keep up to date on personal and professional topics of interest to you by having the news and information come to you, rather than spending time going to it. Again, it has enormous value as a professional development tool for teachers and is quite easy to use - especially once you're set up (which you can do during the workshop).

This hands-on workshop will include:

  • Overview and demonstration of Diigo and Feedly in action.
  • Consideration of their benefit and value for personal and professional learning, as well as professional/faculty/class collaboration.
  • Great educational/teacher blogs and other sites you may like to add to your Feedly reader
  • Guided, hands-on "getting started" and exploration with both tools.
  • Resources and ideas for using these tools.



Remember to:

  • Put the dates and times above in your diary if you're interested.
  • Email me with your expression of interest for either or both workshops just so I have an idea of numbers.